| Home |
| Search |
| Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
ADAT HD24 and length of remote cable(s)
How far from the HD24 recorder can one get a/the remote? Can it be as
far as 30 or 40 feet? -- ha |
|
#2
|
|||
|
|||
|
hank alrich wrote:
How far from the HD24 recorder can one get a/the remote? Can it be as far as 30 or 40 feet? Amazingly enough, I've never even used the remote that came with my HD24. It's still in its plastic wrapper. I do concert recordings on location, and frankly for my purposes I don't want a lot of convenience when it comes to pushing buttons. I want to get the recording started, and then to do absolutely nothing that might prematurely interrupt it. So the fewer buttons around, the better. But the remote uses a straight "mono" quarter-inch plug, and I happened to have a 25 foot headphone extension cord here that Harvey sent me a couple of months ago, so I just now hooked them together and tried it. It worked fine. The remote itself has about eight feet of cable, so that gets into the length range that you mentioned. And since that seemed to work OK, I added another 25 foot extension cord. It _still_ seems to work fine at 50+ feet. I tried a dozen or so button presses, though, so I wouldn't call it extensive testing. There was a discussion on this on the HD24 Yahoo group about two years ago. Here's what one person reported: What kind of cable is the LRC cable? Shielded? Twisted pair? Would a presumably unshielded headphone extension work? "IIRC, I think it's single conductor with a wrapped copper ground. In a pinch, a headphone extension works just dandy. Used them multiple times, too. Remember, the LRC is "only" a switched resistor network. It's not going to be very picky. Just watch your cable capacitance and impedance." Another poster mentioned having trouble when he tried to use 100 feet of extension cord. He said it worked, but it was erratic. Keep in mind that I'm talking about the basic little remote that comes with the unit. The ADAT BRC (a separate purchase) is a completely different beast, and it connects in a completely different manner. So my report has no bearing on that. |
|
#3
|
|||
|
|||
|
Jim Gilliland wrote:
hank alrich wrote: How far from the HD24 recorder can one get a/the remote? Can it be as far as 30 or 40 feet? Amazingly enough, I've never even used the remote that came with my HD24. It's still in its plastic wrapper. I do concert recordings on location, and frankly for my purposes I don't want a lot of convenience when it comes to pushing buttons. I want to get the recording started, and then to do absolutely nothing that might prematurely interrupt it. So the fewer buttons around, the better. Right, but if I'm tracking myself in the studio room, I don't want the recorder right there. I want it ensconced in the control room where I don't have to hear it, and neither do the mics. But the remote uses a straight "mono" quarter-inch plug, and I happened to have a 25 foot headphone extension cord here that Harvey sent me a couple of months ago, so I just now hooked them together and tried it. It worked fine. The remote itself has about eight feet of cable, so that gets into the length range that you mentioned. And since that seemed to work OK, I added another 25 foot extension cord. It _still_ seems to work fine at 50+ feet. I tried a dozen or so button presses, though, so I wouldn't call it extensive testing. Cool, Jim, thanks. There was a discussion on this on the HD24 Yahoo group about two years ago. Here's what one person reported: What kind of cable is the LRC cable? Shielded? Twisted pair? Would a presumably unshielded headphone extension work? "IIRC, I think it's single conductor with a wrapped copper ground. In a pinch, a headphone extension works just dandy. Used them multiple times, too. Remember, the LRC is "only" a switched resistor network. It's not going to be very picky. Just watch your cable capacitance and impedance." Another poster mentioned having trouble when he tried to use 100 feet of extension cord. He said it worked, but it was erratic. Keep in mind that I'm talking about the basic little remote that comes with the unit. The ADAT BRC (a separate purchase) is a completely different beast, and it connects in a completely different manner. So my report has no bearing on that. Yeah, the "LRC". I understand that one doesn't offer control of channel arming/disarming, and that the BRC, which seems no longer in production, offers some control, but not complete. This could be a deal breaker. Whatever I get next will be a dedicated recorder, no computer involved, and must be fully controllaable remotely. An I missing something? (Be kind... g) -- ha |
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
|
hank alrich wrote:
Keep in mind that I'm talking about the basic little remote that comes with the unit. The ADAT BRC (a separate purchase) is a completely different beast, and it connects in a completely different manner. So my report has no bearing on that. Yeah, the "LRC". I understand that one doesn't offer control of channel arming/disarming, and that the BRC, which seems no longer in production, offers some control, but not complete. This could be a deal breaker. Whatever I get next will be a dedicated recorder, no computer involved, and must be fully controllaable remotely. An I missing something? (Be kind... g) Probably. The BRC does have some issues, and the MRC (aka "the Director") that Alesis promised us never actually went into production. (Though Alesis still says that it will, no one really believes it anymore). So it really is a problem. Too bad, really, because the HD24 is a great little deck, and even more so in the 96K version. As I said, for my purposes, I don't miss the remote at all, but for many users it is a real problem. The HD24 group on Yahoo has a discussion going on right now about how to deal with the need to remotely control the HD24. The group is trying to figure out how to use a third party product to drive the HD24. Unfortunately, though, the solution they are considering won't meet your needs - it requires a computer to be involved. You might want to join us and see what you can get from the discussion. Also, a lot of people use the BRC quite successfully. Since I don't use it myself, I can't comment on its quirks and limitations. Some of the other group members should be able to give you some first hand info. At one point, I tinkered with using my Spirit 328 mixer as a MIDI device to control the HD24. It worked OK, including arming and disarming tracks. But I didn't really need the capability, so I never really did anything with it. For some reason, the HD24 doesn't seem to handle MIDI commands for fast forward and rewind, though everything else worked OK. |
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
|
Jim Gilliland wrote:
At one point, I tinkered with using my Spirit 328 mixer as a MIDI device to control the HD24. It worked OK, including arming and disarming tracks. But I didn't really need the capability, so I never really did anything with it. For some reason, the HD24 doesn't seem to handle MIDI commands for fast forward and rewind, though everything else worked OK. Hmmm, wonder if something from JL Cooper would work. They made/make a bunch of controllers. Thanks again, Jim. I don't need to hurry, but I'd like something dedicated that's cheaper than the Radar and also more confindence inspiring than the Fostex. -- ha |
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
|
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 21:36:00 -0400, Jim Gilliland
wrote: The HD24 group on Yahoo has a discussion going on right now about how to deal with the need to remotely control the HD24. The group is trying to figure out how to use a third party product to drive the HD24. Unfortunately, though, the solution they are considering won't meet your needs - it requires a computer to be involved. You might want to join us and see what you can get from the discussion. Also, a lot of people use the BRC quite successfully. Since I don't use it myself, I can't comment on its quirks and limitations. Some of the other group members should be able to give you some first hand info. At one point, I tinkered with using my Spirit 328 mixer as a MIDI device to control the HD24. It worked OK, including arming and disarming tracks. But I didn't really need the capability, so I never really did anything with it. For some reason, the HD24 doesn't seem to handle MIDI commands for fast forward and rewind, though everything else worked OK. Fast Forward and Rewind are alien concepts to a random access hard disc recorder. They just want you to tell them where to go and they'll go there virtually instantaneously. That's why it is probably more sensible to tell them to go to a locate point rather than just to tell them to ff/rewind. If the HD24 accepts the same commands over its 9 pin connector as the old ADAT's did then it shouldn't be too difficult to create a suitable remote control. There was a piece of software that I found called ADAT CRC which came with diagrams to show you how to hook up a computer to an ADAT 9 pin connector. As I understand it, the ADAT 9 pin protocol is very close (or maybe identical) to MIDI Machine Control so there must be alternative controllers around that could be modified. Cheers. James. |
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
|
On 17 Aug 2005 22:37:50 -0400, Mike Rivers wrote:
Someone on the Mackie forum was asking about ways to use the MMC commands on his d8b or dxb console to control an HD24. I suggested that perhaps the JLCooper Datasync 2 would do it since it translates MMC to the Alesis sync interface format. He e-mailed JLCooper, who replied that they didn't know if it would work but suspected that it wouldn't. He was going to get one on demo and give it a try. I think we may have had a similar conversation before Mike. I use the MOTU Digital Timepiece to translate MMC to my ADAT's and I'm sure that it would also control the HD24. The big problem is that the DTP costs almost as much as the HD24. Maybe one of the cheaper MOTU interfaces like the Midi Timepiece would be sufficient here. Looking at the JLCooper site, I see no reason why the Datasync 2 wouldn't work either. Cheers. James. |
|
#10
|
|||
|
|||
|
Mike Rivers wrote:
I use those functions on my Mackie recorder. Sometimes you just want to back up a little and listen. Maybe eventually you'll develop the habit of setting a locate point every time you stop the transport so you can go back to the last place you started from, but I don't have that down yet. The Mackie was designed to work as much as reasonable like a tape deck and the "wind" speed is slow enough so you can stop it where you want it. If you want to wind faster, just push the button another time. It has a four-speed transmission. They work a little differently on the Alesis machine, but deliver the same functionality. When you simply press the FF or REW button once, it skips forward or back exactly 5 seconds. When you hold down the button, it starts out moving slowly through the current recording, then gradually speeds up as you continue to hold the button down. When you let it go, it stops. If you do the same thing while the recording is playing, the machine scrubs slowly through the recording, then returns to normal play when you release it. There may be other features hidden in there as well, but I wouldn't know. I almost never use the deck for playback, only for recording. Once the tracks have been captured, they get moved to my DAW for mixdown. I think it's silly for the Alesis recorder to not use the MMC FF and REW commands. There are buttons on it for those functions, aren't there? It is silly. The FF and REW buttons on the front panel and on the little remote work just fine, so why shouldn't the MCC controls work the same way? |
|
#11
|
|||
|
|||
|
65 feet with no problem. I have 2 HD24s with a BRC at my console. But
for recording tracks in another room, I run a 1/4" cable from the HD24 to an XLR patchbay. From there I run a 50' snake to another room and hook up the LRC with an XLR adapter. It works great. However, I would love to have this "Director" that Alesis supposedly has designed. John |
|
#12
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
#13
|
|||
|
|||
|
Mike Rivers wrote:
walkinay writes: Whatever I get next will be a dedicated recorder, no computer involved, and must be fully controllaable remotely. An I missing something? (Be kind... g) Yeah, the most solid one around, a Mackie HDR24/96 or MDR24/96. You haven't got hung up on the 96 kHz bandwagon have you? Not hung up on 96 KHz particularly (haven't bothered going there with the MIO much yet), but I haven't heard anybody say they thought the HD24's sonics weren't improved by the higher sampling rate option. Now, we know there could be many reasons for that, and reasons unrelated to the sampling rate. But if I'm looking at these things and trying not to spend what a Radar V would cost, I might as well get the best sounding version of the HD24. I'm not against the Mackie particularly, but the HD24 is more compact and I think I like the disk handling better. (I'm also still ****ed at Mackie for ****ing up the SRM350 and not addressing the woofer noise. g But truth be told, they're selling about four thousand of those a month, so what I know isn't worth much. The bad news is that after 13 years of bold service my 1202 is just about to cough its pots, and I'm not seeing any company other than Mackie making a sensible replacement. I'm going to pop the hood and see it a little Caig will help, but I'm not optimistic.) My next search is to determine what functions don't function when using the BRC with an HD24. BRC's aren't very costly now, judging by eBay. -- ha |
Linear Mode
